With the government setting a floor on the price of milk, U.S. dairymen are price-takers not price-makers. However, when that bottom-line price doesn’t cover the input and operational costs required to maintain a minimum profit it’s only a matter of time before their bottom lines begin to bleed....More

The longer President Obama and House Speaker John Boehner argue over how to avoid the so-called “fiscal cliff” tax and spending crisis, the less likely farmers are to get a new farm bill in time for the 2013 crops....More

The agriculture industry is well aware of the imminent threats to federal farm programs. Less well known is the impending demise of the Transaction Account Guarantee (TAG) program, which provides coverage for non-interest bearing transaction accounts in community banks....More

A new farm bill can’t come quickly enough for Roger Johnson, National Farmers Union (NFU) president. “We want a bill – a five-year farm bill. We’re doing everything we can to make that happen. We see enormous problems with an extension (of the 2008 farm bill) of any duration.”...More

Congressional agriculture leaders have expressed varying levels of optimism on the farm bill, but as days go by, hope appears to be fading and the scramble for a legislative plan B to avoid implementation of permanent law in 2013 becomes more hurried....More

A new farm bill remains in limbo, but some conclusions can be made about how the final legislation might look. There will be a big shift from commodity program tools for managing risks to insurance tools....More

Many dairy farms were already struggling with low milk prices and high fuel and feed costs as the worst drought in decades dried up grazing land and pushed up the price of hay and feed. Dozens in states like California, the nation's leading milk producer, have filed for bankruptcy....More

Oct. 1 is the first day of the 2008 farm bill’s expiration. Agriculture groups marked the occasion with a series of statements underlining the importance of new farm legislation for rural America. Democrats marked it by scolding House leadership for not bringing the legislation to a vote since it was passed out of the House Agriculture Committee in early July....More

Farmers who are now taking on operating loans for the 2013 crop and putting it in the ground will be joined by many, many others wondering what farm safety net will exist in the new year and how much more deeply farm programs will be cut when the new Congress is seated in January....More

The House will have been in session eight days from August 4 through mid-November. That is an outrage. It is especially an outrage in the face of a moribund economy, the worst drought in decades and a stagnant farm bill....More